When I heard about the temporary Pop-Up Rhino store, I knew I had to go. The small new/used independent record store located 1/2 mile from UCLA was where my friends and I all bought the new releases. Why? Simply because Tower and Sam Goody's and The Wherehouse were just not nearly as cool. Plus, Rhino had lots of great in-store performances - to name one little band, Nirvana. The store's owner eventually developed his own label - mostly reissues of older bands and CD compilations. Much later, after college, I met the guy who was Rhino's main licensing man and we became friends through mutual friends. Turns out he had also once managed the Rhino Record store and is now with iTunes. Rhino Records closed its doors in 2005 - but the owner (who is relocating to NY) decided to have a blow out sale of his inventory, so the pop-up store was created to unload it all with the profits going to charity. I contacted the old gang and let them know about the sale.
When I walked in I just stood there and took it all in like I did for the first time when I was 18 years old (I may have even been wearing the same sneakers) and all we could do was smile. The racks of CDs! The racks of vinyl! T-shirts! DVDs! Vintage board games! And the same hand written posters telling it like it is:
They have some cool in-stores and special events planned for the two weeks of the pop-up and it'll last through the holiday weekend.
Oh, Rhino... where did the days go?
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